Week of October 11 2010 : Closing Time

(Here is a photo of the field shrouded in mist. In the foreground are the cover crops just two weeks after seeding. In the background are the geese lurking in the shadows. And separating the two is nothing but twine ...)

This is the final week of market for us. We like to celebrate Halloween early so we dress the kids in costumes and take them to market too. Last year Nathaniel was a skunk ... appropriate but too realistic for our neighbor's dog. We learned our lesson and decided not to dress the kids as an enemy of something that growls or has sharp teeth. This year he was a farmer and Frances was a nubbin' ear of corn.

Right now I am wondering how we survived this season. Let's just say we experienced a labor shortage. Our collective efforts (and patience) were diverted to our toddler and new born baby. I estimate we operated the farm and attended market with 1/3^rd of an employee.

We are really satisfied with this season. But we are really excited to see it go too. This year, there were NO season extension techniques used on our farm!

The most disappointing moment was realizing / admitting that we couldnt participate in the Geauga Fresh Farmer's Market. We were honored to be chosen as members of such a great market. Now that we have regained family stability we look forward to participating next season.

The most memorable moment also occurred at the Geauga market. We won the Best Tasting Cherry Tomato award.

The most pleasing moments were the return of repeat customers at the Lake Metroparks Farmpark Market. Customers raving about our sweet corn ... woo hoo.

Week of October 4 2010 : Little

(Here is a photo of Nathaniel turning the little compost pile. Its a little farm, so a little boy on a little tractor is a perfect match for the job.)

There are two ends of the continuum with respect to growing capacities. On the small end, there is Mom and Dad growing a tomato plant in a container on the driveway. On the large end, there are the multi-national corporations.

Market farms fall somewhere in between although even the large / successful operations are closer to the Mom and Dad end than the corporate end.

We fall into a particularly annoying spot in this little middle: the hard-to-get-supplies little middle.

If Mom and Dad want tomato seeds, they can drive to any hardware store or greenhouse or landscape center and buy tomato seeds.

If a multi-national corporation wants tomato seeds, they can call the headquarter's technology center who will bioengineer a customized breed.

Again, market farmers fall somewhere in between. We need a larger seed selection than the local hardware store but dont have the labs to develop our own seed.

This problem is amplified by strict organic production requirements.

A particularly annoying example is cover crop seed.

The internet solves the availability problem; we know where to buy cover crops. But how many sites charge a premium for shipping 25# of seeds? Then these same sites offer free shipping on large orders!

BAAH. It's the little middle syndrome.

Week of September 27 2010 : Plowdown

(Here is a photo of Nathaniel running off with the fall cover crops. Part of his parole package (for boosting pumpkins) included seeding the cover crops. So much for The System ... We started with 70% Winter Rye, 25% Hairy Vetch and 5% Tillage Radish seed).

Notice the twine along the edges of the field.

Prior to cover crop emergence, geese lazily wander across plowed / seeded fields in search of greens on the other side. Thousands of little footsteps compact the soil surface thus reducing and delaying, if not completely eliminating, seedling emergence.

After emergence, geese merrily chomp the tender seedlings. Hundreds of geese can clear cut a field in a matter of hours.

Baah! Geese are such a threat to establishing a healthy cover crop. The solution? Exploit the laziness. Suspend a single strand of twine 8" above the soil.

This year the goose fence includes two improvements. Breakaway twine and tensioners.

Deer frequently wander through the fields. White nylon twine has the highest visibility (as opposed to natural sissal twine) but deer still occasionally snap the twine. I attach the twine to the wooden post with a horizontal nail. In the past, I would loop the twine around the nail. Now, on certain posts, I simply lay the twine on the nail. After monitoring the deers' traffic patterns, I strategically loop some posts and, in the high traffic areas, lay the other posts. The result is the twine falls off the post instead of snapping.

The other improvement is tensioners. Throughout the winter the twine tends to stretch and sag. Adding a second nail to the wrapped line posts allows me to wind the twine between the two nails effectively eliminating sag.

These two improvements allow me to maintain a twine line literally with one hand. Cutting, splicing and tying elaborate knots is fun, however, maintaining a twine line in less than 60 seconds is a lot more fun.

Week of September 20 2010 : Better Way

(Here is a photo of Nathaniel hand mowing the orchard. Nothing like crisp, arrow straight stripes to help showcase the fall apple harvest. But there is plenty of acreage so he had plenty of time to consider more efficient ways to mow. The next day he was checking price tags on toddler sized tractors.)

One of the attractions to farming is the working / thinking / improving cycle. Its always fun to "do" but even more satisfying to "do better".

I like to design and build clever solutions but some days OCD consumes me and I get stuck thinking about improvements and never actually get to improving.

For example, a tomato trellis. We have never lost a tomato plant due to trellis failure.

Yet I am still consumed with the idea of improving our trellis design. Forget practicality; I want to design a trellis so innovative that it will be featured in engineering journals. I realized I had gone too far only when I found myself studying mathematical equations for catenaries. Stop!

So as we begin to review our successes and failures and plan for next year, let's keep Nathaniel's lesson in mind. Do, then do better, and stay within reasonable limits.

Week of September 13 2010 : Guilt

Looking ...

Snatching...

Running ...

(Here are a few security camera stills of Nathaniel trying to loot the pumpkin patch. The get-away little red wagon was hidden between the corn rows. Such a sophisticated operation for one toddler ... but even during interrogation he never ratted out his crew).

So much for posting once a week. All season we were a few weeks behind now we are a few months behind. Thanks to everybody for patience and understanding; not a single reader ever complained.

As I remember, this was the first week I worked completely in the dark. The sun was setting as we read bedtime stories to the kids and dusk completely disappeared just as I headed outside. Having babies and toddlers also means having wholesale quantities of batteries so I plugged fresh batteries into the headlamp and went to work.

The headlamp worked well when harvesting some crops but not others. Some crops are harvested by size and shape other crops are harvested by color.

Examples. Sweet corn can easily be harvested in minimal light; just feel for complete tip fill then snap the ear. Tomatoes are harder to pick at night. A fruit that looks perfectly ripe under LED light doesnt look so perfect under natural light. Even so, after harvesting-at-night / grading-during-sunlight a few times, I was able to calibrate my ripe meter.

I enjoyed working during the night. Until I heard the band of coyotes. A pack of hungry coyotes has a certain, say scary, shrill. I still worked at night but only in the South field which is surrounded by a 7' foot fence.

Week of September 6 2010 : Nubbin' Ears

(Here is a picture of a our baby corn. For many of our products, we grow a traditional full size variety and a smaller single serving size variety. This year we experimented with baby corn but the results were somewhat startling.)

As we get into September, the insect pressure on sweet corn is intense. The unusually warm summer created an opportunity for a third generation of corn borers. The second generation of corn earworms are peaking. Science has certainly provided many solutions for these pests, Unfortunately the organic solutions are not 100% effective.

So that left us with a problem. We had really great tasting sweet corn. But too many ears had a bonus bug.

Rather than discarding the ears as unmarketable and heaving them into the compost pile, we significantly dropped the price and clearly communicated the problem to our customers. There were three distinct reactions.

About 25% did not care at all. They wanted sweet corn, they knew from experience we had sweet corn, and a bug was nothing but proof we dont use harsh sprays.

About 50% cared a little bit. They were more interested in bargain prices than worrying about bugs.

About 25% cared very much. They tactfully but without any doubt passed.

At the time, we thought this was a good compromise; our short term goal was to avoid wasting otherwise perfectly fine food.

But, now that we have thought about that compromise a great deal more, perhaps that solution contradicted our long term goal of establishing a brand and continuously improving quality standards.

Week of August 30 2010 : Trust

(Here is a picture of our market stand at Lake Farmpark Farmer's Market. OK the truth is I wanted to take a picture of our stand after it was setup but before the market opened. Customers arrived early then I remembered to take the picture only after I was done cleaning up. However this image captures the essence of how we feel after market. Lonely but fun to drive home with an empty truck / trailer!)

Its also fun to learn the various personalities of our customers. Some customers insist on inspecting each and every item to ensure it meets their criteria. These customers have different but specific preferences for ripeness, size, etc. We happily ask a few questions to assist the selection process: when will you prepare it, how will you prepare it, etc.

Other customers have no such preferences. They allow us to choose and they usually explain why: "I trust you". The implication is these customers trust our experience and knowledge to pick the best for them. We honor this sense of trust.

But all customers, whether they explicitly say so or not, trust us. They trust our production techniques. They trust our commitment to healthy, safe food. We honor this sense of trust too.